Something Beautiful
by Joyful-Sound
Summary: [A series of oneshots, short stories, and drabbles] We can all agree that, although high school can be tough, we'll look back and realize that it was always something beautiful [Mainly TxG, with CxTa, ZxS, RxK]
1. Caffeine

**I've decided that, since I have some short one-shot ideas that I scrapped awhile ago, I would post these stories as fluff relief from A Day of Shopping (haha--since A Day of Shopping serves as my comic relief...). This drabble is a bit longer than a drabble should be, but since it really has no full plot, I considered it a drabble, not a one-shot. And (sadly) I don't own HSM ;(**

**Title: **Caffeine

**Pairing: **Troy&Gabriella

**Enjoy!**

* * *

A cool late afternoon breeze sliced through the silence of a grassy knoll overlooking East High's baseball fields. A single dirt road wound through the flowing grass, circling the area of a tall oak tree. School was out and nobody was on the practice fields, or at the school. It was completely quiet. 

The hill used to be part of East High's physical education program, where students would occasionally be allowed to ride bikes through the trails that used to engulf the hill. Now, the main dirt road was the only that remained of the since-dismissed bicycle riding program. The spot, however, had not been forgotten…

"Where _are _you taking me?" Gabriella asked, folding her arms across her chest as her friend walked her past the entrance of East High. He had cupped his hands over her eyes, smirking in pure delight at the sight. As soon as he had parked his car outside of the school, he'd taken the chance to cover her eyes and tell her he had a surprise for her.

"Now what in the world makes you think I'm going to tell you?" He asked innocently. They had reached the grass, where Gabriella's current captor made a turn for them to head to the baseball fields.

"Troy Bolton!" She wiggled, trying to get away from his grasp. "If this is one of those freaky best friend kidnappings… I'll…I'll-"

"Chill," Troy laughed, blowing a strand of hair out of his face. "It's a good surprise!"

"But why would you be taking me to school on a Saturday? And on movie night of all things!" Gabriella huffed. Although, she really didn't mind missing movie night if it meant getting a surprise from her crush, whom just happened to be standing right behind her. He led her up the grass, carefully leading her up what felt like a hill.

"You won't miss movie night," Troy promised as the two finished walking up the knoll. "Besides, it's at Chad's tonight, so the only thing we'd miss is some lame comedy and mysteriously colored popcorn." _And he seems to have a knack for interrupting our near kisses. _He thought. No doubt about it, Chad's timing was terrible.

"Still." Gabriella mumbled as Troy pulled his hands away from covering her eyes. Cool air rushed to the spot where Troy's warm hands were, while Gabriella scanned the area. He had brought her up on some sort of hill, which had a clear view of East High. They were under the shade of a tall oak tree, standing on a narrow dirt road winding around it.

"Surprise," Troy whispered in her ear, sending goosebumps down Gabriella's arms. A gust of wind blew, causing the rustling from the leaves of the tree to break the silence.

"Why here?" She turned around, giving Troy a puzzled look. Out of all places, why did he bring her back to school? Or, at least a place on school grounds.

"My dad told me about an old bike trail, so when we were running for basketball the other day, I decided to have the team run through here so I could see what he was talking about," he shrugged. "I thought it was pretty, and knowing that you seem to find these kinds of places interesting, I decided… you know…" Troy shrugged once more, at a loss for words. His father really had mentioned the trail, and it just happened to be the place where his father and mother met for the first time.

Truthfully, the spot reminded him of Gabriella, since he could sum it up in one word: beauty. Although 'brains' came to mind first when he thought of Gabriella, her beauty was still a close second to why he was attracted to her.

"Aw. You're so sweet!" the brunette threw her arms around Troy, her heart fluttering at his closeness. "Thanks." Gabriella whispered; wishing the hug would never end.

"You're welcome," Troy whispered back, resisting the urge to tell her right there about his feelings for her. He had a speech planned out for telling her, which was partially the reason he brought her here. Gabriella pulled away, only to throw her hands up and start twirling in the sunlight.

"What _are_ you doing?" Troy asked, imitating how Gabriella had asked him where they were going earlier.

"Twirling," she explained simply. "First of all, I had caffeine earlier, so I'm dying to release energy, and second, I love finding quiet places to do this. It helps me solve problems." Gabriella began spinning again, thinking of her current issue with crushing on Troy.

"So this works?" Troy laughed, starting to spin around himself. He abruptly stopped when his eyes caught a glimpse of Gabriella. Her long curls were now parallel with the ground as she spun. Her tan skin glinted beautifully in the setting sun, complimented by her school spirited windbreaker.

Troy shook his head, realizing that if Gabriella opened her eyes, she would find him gazing intently at her. He really needed to tell her of his feelings before they left. It was perfect here.

Gabriella had started slowing down, getting another burst of energy.

"Hey, Gabriella-" he spoke, trying to sound serious.

"Let's race!" She interrupted, not noticing the seriousness in Troy's voice. "First one to the bottom of the hill wins!" Gabriella reasoned.

"This is the last time you will _ever_ have caffeine if I have _anything_ to do with it!" Troy scolded the brunette playfully, giving into her energetic state of mind. It was obvious she was in no mood for serious chatter.

"Are you implying that you're afraid to race me?" Gabriella's eyebrows shot up, ready to sprint down the hill at any sign that Troy was about to surprise her and run ahead. "So the Wildcat superstar _is_ afraid!" She finished, referencing the words she'd told him earlier in the year.

"No!" Troy defended. "You know I'd win!" He folded his arms across his chest, trying to look as self-absorbed as he could. In truth, though, he felt as if he was acting like a four-year-old.

"Wimp!" Gabriella challenged, matching his tone of voice. No way was he going to get away with not racing her.

"Wimp? How am _I _a wimp?" Troy fired back, in mock surprise at the accusation.

"Because you're too afraid to kiss me!" Gabriella teased playfully, not realizing what she had said until the look on Troy's face turned to shock. Not knowing how to cover this one up, Gabriella quickly turned around and ran as fast as she could down the hill.

Troy's stomach dropped as Gabriella sprinted away. She was right. Chad had been telling him all along, and it had just taken a small burst of energy to get Gabriella to admit it. Really, it had just been admitting to himself that he was afraid.

It was time to prove her wrong.

Knowing he could easily catch up, Troy smiled and ran behind her; determined to prove to her that he was no longer afraid to admit his feelings to her. He realized that he didn't need any creative speech to impress her. It was Gabriella. His best friend, his singing partner.

Yards ahead, Gabriella was trying desperately to gain control of her thoughts. _Oh my God… Did I seriously just say that? _She thought as she sped downward. What was she going to do now? Looking behind her, she saw Troy chasing after her with a grin on his face. Maybe he had thought she was just kidding. _But I want him to think like that… _Gabriella kept thinking.

She wanted him to know that she wanted to kiss him so bad… that she has liked him as more than a friend since the day she met him.

"You're lagging Bolton!" Gabriella called behind her, trying to forget her thoughts in the carelessness of the race. Besides, she knew he liked her as more than a friend. Maybe the trouble had been admitting it to themselves that they liked each other in that way.

"Not anytime soon, Montez! No girl calls me a wimp and gets away with it!" Troy yelled back in response. The distance between them kept growing smaller, and Gabriella used her last spout of caffeine-fueled energy to pull ahead a small bit.

She might have beaten him to the bottom, had a rock not been hidden in the grass. Her sandal caught right on top of it, and as her foot went forward, the rock rolled backwards, sending Gabriella off-balance and face-first into the grass. Ignoring the pain in her foot, she stumbled up, determined to get to the bottom.

Troy, taking his athletic advantage, ran full-speed toward Gabriella as she stumbled up he caught her around the waist. Gabriella yelped in surprise, grabbing onto the collar of his t-shirt.

"Gotcha!" He said in victory. Their difference in speed sent the taken-aback Gabriella forward, while it pulled Troy back. The pair went tumbling down, both laughing all the way.

"Not fair," Gabriella laughed. "I fell."

"Oh, poor Gabriella," Troy responded sarcastically. "I told you I'd win!"

"You so did not win! I was the first to touch the bottom of the hill!" Gabriella stuck her tongue out at Troy. They were lying about ten feet from the edge of the knoll, Troy still holding Gabriella's waist.

"But I was still faster!" Troy said in victory.

"You're still a wimp." Gabriella smirked, looking into Troy's ocean blue eyes. Troy stared back at her, her curls sprawling behind her, her eyes glittering in delight, and a challenging look on her face. The sun was in it's late stage of setting, sending orange rays over both of their faces.

In quick response, Troy pulled Gabriella closer and pressed his lips to hers. Gabriella deepened the kiss, glad that it was finally happening. She ran a hand down his face, pulling away.

"See? I'm not a wimp." Troy mischievously grinned, his eyes sparkling.

"Mmkay. You're not a wimp," she giggled. "But it took you long enough."

"Already saying that?" Troy groaned. "When we get to Chad's house, everyone's going to say that!"

"Don't worry. They're going to be saying that to me as well," Gabriella sighed, sitting up. "I knew you were nervous, and I never realized that I'd end up being the one to break the ice."

"You know," Troy stood up, offering his hand to help Gabriella up. "Out of the girls that I've liked as more than friends, you're the only one that has managed to leave me speechless when I need words the most."

"It's funny," Gabriella stood up, taking Troy's hand, "because you do the same to me. Although, as you just experienced earlier, I'm very prone to letting things just slip out." She smiled, letting him lead her to his car

They walked in silence for a second, before Troy spoke again.

"So… I guess this means we're officially a couple." He gazed at questioningly Gabriella, squeezing her hand.

"Yeah." Gabriella responded thoughtfully. It was growing darker, which meant it was around seven. Everyone had agreed at school the prior afternoon that they would all arrive at seven-thirty, so they had plenty of time to get to Chad's house.

"You know how I told you I would never allow you to have caffeine again?" Troy asked as they reached his car, opening the door for Gabriella.

"Yeah?" She responded with a chuckle. Troy sat down, started the ignition, and pulled out of the parking lot.

"Considering that led to the earlier events, _completely_ disregard that comment!"

* * *

**Yeah, it was fluffy. I plan for all of these to have at least a little smidge of fluff. Next drabble will circle around the comment Troy made earlier on the strange colored popcorn. Hrm…**

**Oh, and A Day of Shopping Chapter 7 will be up in a day or so!**

**Review and tell me if I should continue on with this drabble/short stories collection :)**


	2. Popcorn

**Updating. Author's notes will now only be at the bottom. Cutting down on the longer ones… hehe.**

**Title: **Popcorn

**Pairing: **TxG, CxTa, ZxS, RxK

* * *

"Okay, I got the movies!"

Sighs of relief chorused through the room as the one and only Chad Danforth called from upstairs. Excitedly, he slid down the banister of the stairs, the small pile of movies tucked safely under his arms.

The only particular reason that everyone was so relieved was because Chad had gone upstairs earlier, unable to find the movies where he had 'seen them last'. Needless to say, Chad saw a lot of things, and never found them again.

"My dad must have put them on the end of my bed yesterday," he explained to the group sprawled out on his living room floor. Sharpay and Zeke were sharing a lounge chair, Ryan and Kelsi were sitting on the floor to the left of the TV, and Taylor was propped up, fully relaxed, against the couch. The spot on the couch was saved as Troy and Gabriella's normal movie night spot. "Wait… where's Troy and Gabriella?"

"I have no idea," Taylor replied, readjusting the pillow behind her. "They-"

As if cued, the doorbell interrupted Taylor. Chad set the movies down on the couch and ran to the door, cracking the door once he realized it was his two missing friends. Slowly, he opened the front door.

"What's the password?" he whispered, poking his head out of the door.

"Chad's the man." The two chorused, rolling their eyes. There was simply no use arguing with him about the childishness of the whole password thing. He'd started it at the first movie night a few months ago, and it simply hadn't stopped. Chad swung the door open, smirking as he allowed the two in.

"Sorry we're late." Gabriella said with a slight blush as the three went into the Danforth living room. "Traffic was terrible."

"It's alright," Sharpay giggled, curling up next to Zeke. "Although, we chose the movie without you."

"Was I supposed to have a say in this?" Chad asked in confusion. Last time he had left the room, nothing had been decided.

"No." Taylor said dryly, hiding the cover of the DVD behind her pillow. "We would've out-voted you anyway. All of us, even Ryan and Zeke, agreed on the only decent movie in the pile."

"Which would be…?" Chad trailed, taking his seat next to Taylor.

"You'll see," Kelsi grinned mischievously. She pulled her hair back with a headband, placing pillows behind her and her boyfriend as they prepared for the movie. Although Chad was going to protest, Gabriella interrupted him as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Where do I put these?" She held up the sodas that she brought. The group alternated bringing sodas, popcorn, movies, and candy. Somehow, Chad had ended up being the one supplying the movies and having the event at his house at the same time.

"In the kitchen. But I'll come and help get all the snacks ready so we can bring them back out." Taylor finished, with no one objecting. She got up, practically pulled Gabriella down the hall and into the kitchen, and shut the door behind them.

"You so kissed him." She said as soon as the door was closed.

"_What_?" Gabriella stood, taken aback.

"You kissed him." She said simply, trying to find the bowl of popcorn that Chad said was sitting in the kitchen.

"How… did you know?" Gabriella replied; taking the sodas out of the plastic rings that held them together.

"Because there's this… glow," She exaggerated a spirit-finger wave, "to you. And because you two were late."

"Traffic really was actually to blame for that." Gabriella replied, referring to the Saturday night rush in downtown Albuquerque. Before she could respond to what Gabriella had just said, Taylor spotted a purple bowl, hidden behind the fruit rack in the kitchen.

"This must be the popcorn…" Taylor said, trying to get the lid off the large bowl. She shook it, hearing the sound of light objects shuffling around. "Yup. That's the popcorn. I'll just have Chad get the lid off. This lid seems glued."

"I've got the candy and sodas." Gabriella showed Taylor the armful of candy she found scattered on the table. It had been Sharpay and Ryan's turn to bring the candy.

"I expect details when we head home." Taylor smirked, with Gabriella rolling her eyes and striding out the door. As she pushed the door open with her back, she snapped around, running into Troy, who had apparently been trying to open the door. Gabriella squealed in surprised, dropping some of the snacks piled in her arms.

"I am so sorry!" He said, picking up the spilled boxes.

"It's fine," Gabriella chuckled, pausing to wait for Troy to finish picking up the fallen boxes. "Just scared me, that's all."

"I don't know about you, but I'm not going to stand here and make kissy faces. Time to get to the movie, okay?" Taylor pushed past the two, leaving Troy with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"She knows _already_?" He asked, getting up and following Gabriella into the living room.

"She guessed," Gabriella shrugged. "There's not much you can hide from Taylor. She knows things."

Troy shook his head, amazed at what Taylor already knew. He wondered what else she could determine about random things, but decided he really didn't want to know. The two walked back into the room, where Troy promptly took a seat on the couch. Chad was standing at the light switch, ready to dim the lights.

After passing out all of the snacks, Taylor and Gabriella returned to sitting with their boyfriends. All the teenagers of the group besides Taylor were intently looking at Gabriella and Troy, who kept trying, but constantly chickening out, to put his arm around the brunette.

"Are you two finally…?" Sharpay trailed, seeing a blush creep up on Gabriella and a taken-aback Troy.

"Yes…" She said quietly, trying to avoid Sharpay's gaze. Kelsi squealed from her spot in delight.

"Mmkay. Just checking," Sharpay reasoned. "Because your boyfriend has been trying to put his arm around you for the past five minutes."

It was now Troy's turn for his cheeks to flush a deeper red. Receiving a chuckle from Gabriella, he pulled his arm around her in quick defense as she settled her head on his shoulder.

"Okay," Chad said, directing his attention to the couple sitting on the couch behind him. "I discussed this earlier, but now that we've confirmed that you two are dating, I'd advise keeping make-out time to a minimum. My parents have already said that, although they won't bother us during the movie, they will check in to make sure we're… _behaving._" Chad finished, mocking his mother's voice. The bushy-haired basketball player flipped the light switch, and suddenly, nothing but the glow of the TV screen was visible in the room.

"Awww!" Gabriella gushed, seeing the menu of the movie with a picture of two familiar characters pass across the screen. "This movie always makes me cry!"

"Me too," Sharpay cut in, wrapping her arms around Zeke's neck.

"Me three," Kelsi replied from her spot propped up on a pillow.

"Me four!" Taylor finished.

"_The Notebook_?" Chad looked at the cover curiously. "I guess my dad thought that we needed at least one romance movie… because I don't remember picking this one out." He shrugged, sitting back.

"And you have no problem with this?" Taylor asked, pressing the play button. As the movie began, the girls snuggled closer, getting comftorable for the next hour and a half.

"'Course not." Chad said. "And you'll see why here in a bit."

The movie progressed, the popcorn getting passed around, with extremely good comments. Chad said that his mother knew how to make the cheese powder that they sprinkle on Cheetoes, and that's what made it so good.

"So, you said this ending makes you cry?" Troy whispered in Gabriella's ear.

"Yeah. But it's the best love story ever," Gabriella shot him a smile in the dark, placing her head on his shoulder once more. "And by the way, your shoulder is quite squishy."

"Yikes. That means I need to work out," he whispered into her ear once more, sliding his arm around her waist.

"Nah. Keep it the way it is," she inhaled deeply, growing silent as the climax of the movie, the kiss in the rain, unfolded on the screen.

The movie finally started coming to a close. All four girls could be heard sniffling, burying their head's into their boyfriends shoulders when the final shot of the couple onscreen. Chad got up, flipped on the lights, and returned to his emotional girlfriend.

"See? This is why I didn't protest. I told you guys you'd be happy." Chad said in pride, pulling Taylor closer as she sniffled. And he was actually very accurate. The other three teenage boys in the room were all consoling their girlfriends with ridiculously goofy grins on their faces.

Sharpay had picked out a tissue packet from her purse and let the girls handing it around. Troy was first to notice that, while Gabriella was wiping her eyes with a tissue, her fingertips were a dark shade of green.

"Gabriella… What's on your hand?" Troy asked, taking her other hand and looking at it. "On both of your hands," he corrected himself as his girlfriend shockingly look at her fingertips.

"So are yours, Troy," she noticed, pulling his hand to his face.

Voices of, "So are mine!" came through the room, where the tears from the movie had almost already been forgotten.

"Did anyone even _look_ at the popcorn before they ate it?" Taylor gasped, looking at the empty bowl sitting next to her, green smears all over the bottom.

"No," six voices chorused. Everyone got out of their spots, spying into the bowl that they had been eating popcorn out of for the last hour. Nobody had really looked at the popcorn bowl, considering how dark it was in the room.

"Wait!" Chad jumped up, bursting out into laughter. "I remember putting food coloring in the cheese powder. It wouldn't stick the popcorn, so I grabbed the first thing in sight," he concluded, clutching his stomach in laughter.

"Chad, you idiot," Taylor smacked his shoulder. "You owed it to us to at least warn us! And that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard someone do!"

"You could have put butter or something on the popcorn," Ryan suggested, cleaning his hand with a tissue. "This, by far, was not one of your best ideas…"

"Yeah, now there's food coloring all over my clothes!" Sharpay whined, trying to wipe off smudges of green on her glittering pink tank top. The finger smudges were much bigger than Sharpay's petite fingers, which meant that only one other person could have done that.

"Hey, it's not my fault that you and your boyfriend were all over each other during the movie." Chad rolled his eyes, then turned to Taylor and saw the smudges over her shirt as well. "Oh… Hehe. Nevermind Sharpay."

After Chad got his share of glares, they began cleaning up the room. It was nearing 10 in the evening, and the teenagers had agreed with their own parents that, unless there was something dangerous outside, they would all be home by 10:45.

Finally, it was time to leave. Taylor would drive by herself home, while Sharpay, Zeke, Ryan, and Kelsi were going to be dropped off in Ryan's car. Troy and Gabriella were driving home with Troy's car. Once the two were accelerating away from the sidewalk, Troy began to try to start a conversation.

"Our friends are smarter than we give them credit for," he chuckled, sneaking a look at his girlfriend. Her eyes were still reddish from the movie, but her bright smile, hinting newly applied lip-gloss, covered up any other signs of crying.

"Oh. You mean Chad with the popcorn?" Gabriella replied, giggling. "It happened last time, too, but it wasn't this drastic, since we saw the popcorn before we ate it and nobody wanted any."

"No, I was talking about us dating," Troy looked at his girlfriend, wide-eyed at her popcorn comment. "Wait... What _about_ the popcorn?"

"He obviously did that on purpose." The brunette began. "I know he didn't forget to tell us something like that. The lid was on tight to the popcorn bowl, and he didn't open it until the movie started. And green food coloring? I'm sure that wasn't the first thing in sight. He did that so he could get a laugh out of us. That's also most likely the reason he didn't mind the movie. He knew everyone in that room would be cuddled together."

"Are you serious?" Troy gasped, switching from glancing at Gabriella to putting his eyes back on the road. "But… Taylor was covered in smudges."

"He probably forgot about the popcorn once she started snuggling next to him," Gabriella giggled. "Now _that_ sounds like a Chad-like thing to do."

"Oh. Well, good thing you had your windbreaker off to the side." Troy laughed, remembering how Gabriella had snatched up her own windbreaker once Sharpay had pointed out the smudges. Gabriella was wearing a white t-shirt, making the smudges even more visible.

"They would have never let us live that down had they seen the smudges on me," Gabriella unzipped her windbreaker, revealing a smudge on the white material where Troy had his arm around her waist. "Since we just started dating and all. Although you only had your arm around me… This stupid shirt makes it look a lot worse."

"No, they wouldn't have let us live it down. But they'll never let us live it down that we're dating now, either," Troy replied, sighing as he directed the car to park in front of Gabriella's house. The car rolled to a stop, Troy looking over to his girlfriend for her next comment.

"I can live with that, though," Gabriella zipped her windbreaker up again. "Since I was so worried everything would be so awkward at Chad's house. But it hasn't. It just feels so right…"

"To be here with you?" Troy smirked, bringing up the lyrics to a song that played a major role in their relationship. "I know what you mean. But, you probably need to go ahead and go in. If we're out here too long, your mother might get suspicious that something's going on…"

"Okay, okay!" Gabriella laughed at the thought, grabbing her purse off the floor. Before she could get out, Troy leaned over and caught her in a quick goodbye kiss. Gabriella's face shone brightly as she pulled away and opened the car door. "Feel free to call me on my cell phone once you get home. I'm sure I'll still be up." She waved to him.

"Sure thing," he nodded, smiling brightly back at her. He was seriously liking this new relationship. Now he could call her in the middle of the night without worrying about how the girl on the other end felt about him.

When she closed the door, Troy put the car into gear, wiping his mouth off. As much as he liked the taste of Gabriella's strawberry-kiwi flavored lip-gloss, he didn't much care for it mixed with the flavor of Chad's strangely colored popcorn.

* * *

**Okay, so that was supposed to be much shorter. And the strain on the T&G relationship wasn't going to be there, but it somehow happened. I just got so carried away!**

**And… Most of these one-shots will NOT be related in anyway. I guess these first two stories were more of a two-shot. I already have ideas for two more, though.**

**Oh, and before I forget, I posted a new story (Just a Click Away), and so if you didn't get a chance to see it when I posted it, I'm looking for feedback on it.**

**That is, after you review your comments on this ;)**


	3. Promise

**Title: **Promise

**Couple: **Troy&Gabriella

**So this idea has been used countless times. Oh well, I wanted to update this. This scene takes place the morning after 'Gotta Go My Own Way'.

* * *

**

How can you care for someone so much, yet can't bear to see their face anymore?

Gabriella Montez pulled the lavender sheets over her head, trying to block her crippled spirit away from the world. Her face, tear-stained and puffy from the last night's journey, was deep into the pillow, trying to forget. Forget about standing on the bridge above the moonlight-accented water. Forget about the job she had just quit. Forget about concerned gaze of a certain blue-eyed boy.

Troy Bolton.

She was numb of feeling. He had done that to her. He had pushed her away, and although it hadn't bothered her at first, it had taken its first blow on her right now. She had kept her composure on the way home and through her mother's constant questions, but once she was alone, everything had just broken through her Einsteinette barrier. She had always been good at holding back her feelings, like she had demonstrated that night. But he was different. He was her first _real_ boyfriend.

It was mid-morning. She had skipped breakfast, passing off with the excuse that she didn't feel well.

She was probably over-dramatizing things, but it didn't matter to her. These feelings were brand new, completely running on autopilot.

Groaning at herself once more, she ran her hands through the tangled mess of dark locks that resembled her hair. She's been tossing and turning for the past few hours, making her appearance resemble the mess of emotions that kept surging through her.

There was a rustle of leaves outside, accompanied by the neighbor's dog barking. Gabriella ignored it, knowing that her mother had probably forgotten to turn off the water hose, and she was outside now to finish the job. She didn't know her daughter was crying. She didn't know what had gone on that night. It was something Gabriella didn't want her mother to know. She had never acted like such a… _teenager_ before, nor did she want her mother to see her in this state.

On her bedside table, her cell phone screen illuminated the dimmed room as it sent off the tune to a familiar song. Her curtains had been pulled, leaving her balcony doors unable to spill in sunlight.

Slowly, a petite hand came out of the crumpled mound on the bed, blindly reaching for the phone. Once her hand met the keypad, her fingers encompassed the object, pulling it to the dark depths of the bedspread that she had buried herself in.

Her vision was blurry, not able to see the face on the screen. Reluctantly, she took the call, knowing that she still had some friends that cared about her.

"Hello?" she hiccupped weakly, distress dripping through her voice.

"Look, yesterday was a terrible mistake. Gabriella, I care about you too much to let you go," a voice, of which Gabriella tried her best to forget that night. It was rushed, trying to squeeze every word into the precious seconds before she could drop the call.

"But Troy, you've changed. I'm not going to play games like this anymore," Gabriella replied bitterly, ignoring the soft click she heard, burying her head further into the dark of her pillow. Her mom had probably come back inside, and the click was the front door.

"And you won't have to. Gabriella, I see the state you're in. And it horrible knowing that I caused that," he replied softly, yet his voice seemed louder.

"How do you…?" Gabriella shot up from her spot, feeling something brush her hair. Her vision adjusted to the light that was now pouring into her room, facing the one person she didn't want to see at that moment.

Troy ran a hand along her cheek, stroking it with his thumb. He closed his phone while Gabriella did the same with hers.

"You shouldn't be here," she said, her hurt being replaced by the anger towards him by putting her in this state. "My mom won't be happy at all knowing that you're here."

"Both of us know that your mom wouldn't mind," Troy replied calmly, wiping another tear away. "You never told her."

Gabriella winced, hating the fact that he could read her like a book. "So? She'll see me crying…"

"And she'll know that I'm trying to fix it," he smirked encouragingly. "In all honesty, I am. I want you to know that I thought about everything that we've done. Gabriella, I won't sing with Sharpay in the show. After here, I'm going to get my waiter job back. I promise."

"Troy!" Gabriella groaned. That was the wrong thing to say. "Promise is such a big word. You _promised_ me that we'd have a great summer. You _promised_ me that you'd be on time for our dates. You _promised_ me so much more than what's happening."

Troy didn't respond, getting up. Gabriella halfway expected him to leave, until he made a turn for her vanity, picking up an unknown object.

He returned to Gabriella's side, pulling the object into view. It was her brush. Gingerly, he took it and pulled it through her tangles. She winced, wanting to pull away, but knowing that in her heart, she wanted to sit there all her life with him brushing her hair.

"You know you can't just come in and say some mushy things, and expect me to forgive you," Gabriella grumbled, still feeling mixed emotions about him. He was sitting on the edge of her bed, while she was sitting Indian-style under the covers, propped up on her pillows.

"But if you wouldn't have wanted me to come, you would have locked your balcony doors," he moved onto another section of her hair, leaving only about a quarter of the curls left to cover. "If you didn't want me to come and apologize, you would've told your mom about last night."

Gabriella realized that the click she had heard earlier was from the balcony doors, not from her mother coming back inside after turning off the water hose. She had no response for his comment. His words were true. She did want him to come and tell her everything was going to be all right.

"Look," Gabriella looked away quickly once he finished with the brush. "You haven't done anything yet, Troy. And who's to say that once another scholarship is thrown into this mess that you'll pounce on it?"

"I don't care about that anymore," Troy replied softly. "Well, I do. But my friends, and most importantly _you_, have taken first place. Did you know that I was always to envious of you?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" she furrowed her brow, pulling her feet out from under the covers to sit on the edge of the bed. The cool air from her ceiling fan rushed to her legs, still very warm from being sheltered in sheets.

Gabriella wasn't too concerned about Troy seeing her in her mismatched red country club t-shirt and blue shorts that served as her pajamas. He'd seen her in that hideous outfit that Ms. Darbus had made her wear in Twinkle Towne, and he still kissed her. Her pajamas wouldn't do any harm.

"It has everything to do with it," Troy put his arm around her. "You always knew your future. You wanted to be a medical scientist since you were little. You always have great grades. You've got scholarship offers through your nose…"

"My… Nose?" Gabriella giggled slightly.

"Well, I would've said something else, but I didn't think the use of my colorful language would be the best thing to say," Troy eyed Gabriella once more. "But you know what I mean."

"You know what you want to do as well," she looked at the floor as he swept a strand of loose hair behind her ear.

"In basketball, though, if you get a broken ankle, your career is over," Troy shook his head. "That's why I'm going to also work on coaching. Not the best job, but if my dad survived off of it, I'm sure I could."

"Well, if you keep hanging around those college guys, I'm sure your career _wouldn't_ be over," Gabriella challenged coldly, still knowing that Troy hadn't done anything to prove himself to her. Any guy could tell her that he cared for her. It took the right one to prove it.

"You're still first on my list. Before anything else," he tentatively gazed at her, wondering why in the world Gabriella was changing her attitude every five minutes. Did she forgive him or not? "I just wanted to let you know that and that I'm sincerely sorry. I want to be able to sneak up on your balcony at night without getting the cops called on me," he chuckled, trying to add a small bit of humor to the gloom that seemed to possess the brunette, although his efforts seemed futile.

"Troy," Gabriella fell back on her bed, wishing that he wouldn't keep expecting her to just forgive him. "I'll tell you what… I'll think about it. This is bigger than when you told your friends that you would forget about the musical. It's about _our_ future. For you, I'm worried that you're too easily impressed by scholarships and big-time basketball players."

"Fair enough," he squeezed her from the arm he had slung around her once she sat upright again, a sort of half-hug. "I was an idiot, and I will make sure that I fix things. I better go… Everyone will be setting up for the talent show tonight, and us waiters have a lot to do."

Getting up, he strolled over to her vanity, placing her brush down before opening her balcony door, slipping into the sunlight of the luscious summer day.

Gabriella let her eyes follow him as he left, letting herself get captured in his scent that still hung in the room. The smell resembled cinnamon: warm and inviting. It was, in fact, his mother's favorite scent, which she used to accent everything about the household – right down to the fragrance plug-ins that she placed in every available outlet in Troy's room.

She sat back dramatically, catching a glimmer of something on her vanity. Curiously, she got up and padded over to the white desk.

A small hint of a smile appeared on her lips as she picked up the trinket that certainly wasn't there before.

Sitting next to her brush was the very charm that she had given Troy back. The 'T', however, was different this time. The outline was ridged… engraved in some sort of way. Gabriella looked it over, shaking at her head at the thin cursive writing along the majority of the outline of the 'T'.

_When I hear my favorite song, I know that we belong. To Gabriella – the music in me. _

The writing was so small it must've taken a very skilled person to get all of the text upon it.

Gabriella wondered how Troy had something like that done to it so quickly, but with Evans family on his side, Gabriella had a feeling that they could easily get something like that done with great timing.

And in mere hours, Troy proved himself. Gabriella's friends came rushing through her bedroom door; all in wide-eyed wonder about what Troy had just done for not only Gabriella, but for them as well.

---

"…_Everyday_…"

The final lines of the song finished, leaving Troy and Gabriella grinning in disbelief at each other. The crowd cheered wildly not only for the group before them, but also for Ryan Evans, the newly announced winner of the Star Dazzle award.

The staff exited the stage happily, still humming the tune that had made them the stars of the night. Troy took Gabriella's hand, leading her to follow their group of friends to the staff dedication. Tonight had been absolutely spectacular…

"Hey, Bolton!" a deep voice called from afar, as Gabriella internally groaned at the sight at one of the university basketball players. This was way too soon to start this whole thing again. Not to mention… the heels she was wearing with her dress were killing her.

"Oh, hey!" Troy turned around with Gabriella to watch the group come up to them. They all exchanged high-fives and handshakes that made Gabriella feel like a third wheel.

"That was an amazing show!" One of the others began. Troy knew now that this singing thing would follow him all the way to college. "You've got some major talent, and not only in sports!"

"Speaking of which," the tallest began, "we're going to do a team practice tomorrow, and we were wondering if you're in for it."

Gabriella winced, feeling her heart rate pick up. It wasn't because she didn't trust Troy as a person, but he was a boy, and he wasn't immune to 'boy disease', as Taylor would call it.

"No thanks," he smiled back lightly, surprising his girlfriend. "I've sort of got plans already." He squeezed Gabriella's hand as he drew his up to bring attention their linked fingers. A few of them chorused a few 'ooh' noises in response.

"I see, well, we've all got to make time for that" the supposed 'leader' responded with a chuckle, turning his attention to Gabriella. "That was some beautiful vocals. I take it you're _the_ Gabriella?"

"Correct," she nodded, blushing slightly at the conversation taking a turn toward her.

"Well, you two were wonderful together. I can see why Troy won't stop talking about you," another winked, following the group that had started disbanding from the couple. Troy silently took the initiative to lead Gabriella backstage where they would change out of their performance clothing.

"So we have plans tomorrow?" Gabriella questioned as Troy looked down at her.

"Don't we every Saturday? I'm pretty sure I promised that to you on Valentine's Day!"

"Yeah," she grinned sheepishly. "Now _that's_ a promise I can count on."

* * *

**Hmmm… Tell me what you think. I swore the next one in this was planned as a Chad and Taylor one, but this story sort of wrote itself. It's one of the only HSM stories I've been able to write consistently for a while now. I'm experimenting in other areas (Cira got me addicted to reading the **_**Twilight **_**series, so there's writing ideas sort of brewing in my head for that – plus the fact there's countless marching band one shots that I want to post)**

**Anyways, tell me what you think. **


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